


One Equal Temper

by Lokei



Category: Hornblower (TV), Hornblower - C. S. Forester
Genre: Gen, Tennyson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-29
Updated: 2006-08-29
Packaged: 2017-10-20 19:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokei/pseuds/Lokei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Though much is taken, much abides.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Equal Temper

_Though much is taken, much abides; and though  
We are not now that strength which in old days  
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are…  
~ “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson_

It was a different sort of triumph that Hornblower felt the first day that Bush stood on his wooden leg without assistance. Brown hovered nearby and appeared strangely gratified when Bush barked at him in nearly his old manner. In that moment, they might all have been on the decks of the Sutherland—hale, untarnished, masters of men and sail and wave.

It was a different sort of triumph from the spine-tingling relief of a successful action, different from the grim glory of the realization that men would gladly follow you, even to their own destruction. In this moment, there was a magnitude of personal loss and recuperation encompassed in Bush’s wavering stance, an ocean of regrets and affections left unspoken which brimmed in Hornblower’s eyes.

Bush might be the one with the missing limb, but neither of them was whole. The surrender of the Sutherland and the deaths of two-thirds of her crew were deep marks on the eternal tally Hornblower carried—records of loves lost along the way. He had not forgotten a single one, though some scored more deeply than others, and healed more slowly.

But seeing Bush standing there, taking his first hobbling steps with determination in his eyes and blasphemy on his lips, and watching him grow stronger with each refitting of his wooden leg and each journey across the room, brought Hornblower an ease he had never thought to know again.

They were not whole.

But neither were they broken, and if their combined force was a little less implacable and impressive than before, the names of Hornblower and Bush were still enough to strike fear into the hearts of the gendarmes who still combed the country for them. When they stood once more on the deck of an English ship and breathed the free air, they could cause some terror yet.

For Hornblower had no doubt that in the coming of the spring would be the rising of their fortunes, and next time it would take more than falsified reports and propaganda to convince the French public that Horatio Hornblower was a pirate and a coward.

A genuine smile crossed his face—he caught Bush’s glance and saw the same smile split the lieutenant’s face in return as he swung confidently across the stable.

 _…That which we are, we are,  
One equal temper of heroic hearts,  
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will  
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield._


End file.
